"A Good Sci-fi Shooter"

Gyrostarr Review

With the Wiiware, many developers are given the chance to make games with low budget. High Voltage Software proves to be one of the competent ones by giving us Gyrostarr. With its fast-paced gameplay and futuristic theme, it gives us the impression of a game that is simplistic yet full of depth. Will this fast-paced Sci-fi arcade shooter meet our expectations and be worth our money?

Gameplay: The main gameplay of Gyrostarr is quite simple. You control a ship on a series of long and twisting fast-paced tube tracks but you are only limited to move from left to right. Your goal is to gather enough energy before you reach the end of the stage to enter the Warp Gate. Fail, and the Warp Gate closes and you need to start the level from the start. There are also enemies that will try to obstruct and hinder your progress. When you fill your Energy Meter to the full after reaching the Warp Gate. You will now be taken to a Bonus Stage. In the Bonus Stage, you are supposed to gather energy meters until the end of the Stage. Any excess energy is going to be added to your energy meter on the next stage. In this stage, you pass through a series of Speed Boost Rings and gives up a pretty decent speed that fits the game. You have 3 bars of life which you can see on top of the screen right below your Score. Every time you take damage or hit an enemy, one bar is removed but it will gradually replenish back to full. If you lose all three life bars, your ship will be destroyed and a your Energy Meter will be decreased by a small amount. But there are also power-ups available for you to use which only lasts for a few seconds. You also have a second weapon which is the Bomb, and when used, destroys all of the enemies currently appearing on you screen. And the last feature of your ship is the Grappling Hook. It doesnt do damage but its main use is to catch available power-ups and Energy Spheres ahead of you which is good especially when there are a lot of enemies around you and useful for fast-paced stages. The controls are also simple and you can use different schemes depending on you preferences. Assuming you are simply using a Wiimote horizontally. You just move the ship with the D-pad. You press Up and Down for the Grappling hook. The 2 button is for your normal beam attack and the 1 button is for using you bomb. There is also an option for motion controls but leaves nothing to be desired since it responds very slow and you will likely have trouble controlling your ship with this control scheme.

Graphics/Visuals: Considering the size of the game, the game is pretty outstanding with nice effects and good visuals. The ship designs are quite good and simple but is clunky at the same time. The tracks are full of detail and shows a bit of transparency and excellent use of colors. The enemies are pretty simple & generic and is limited to a few design which also suffers with simplistic designs. The background is also simple and uses a few space-themed designs which fits the mood of the game.

Music/Sound: Techno-plasma tracks are quite interesting on the game and perfectly matches the setting of the Stages. Sadly, there are only about 3-5 tracks used on the game and you will somehow notice that they sound the same after playing for a while. A voice-over is also used that somehow resembled a computer-generated female voice for the menus and on the game. The sound effects are choppy at best.

Replayability: Gyrostarr is quite a lengthy game even though it is a bit repetitive. Sporting 50 different levels, you will spend a lot time playing the game. There are also High Scores so you might wanna try and beat them from time to time. The multiplayer is also fun and much more fast-paced especially for 4 players.

Final Recommendation: Overall, Gyrostarr is a good Wiiware title for only 700 points and a good shooter nonetheless but not the best out there. Its a game that you can play for short and/or long periods of time and have fun. Single play is quite boring yet fun and enjoyable, while multiplayer is a blast.